The Lee Family: California: Day 1

A few months ago, my Aunt Cathy organized a family reunion in Fullerton, California so that the McConnell family (my Mom's side) could all get together while my great Aunt Shirley, who is 93 years old, is still with us. Since we were heading to California, I decided to make a week of it and visit a few amusement parks while CK had to return on Sunday for a week of work. I was really looking forward to seeing everyone and spending a little time in California with CK and the girls.

We woke up at 5:30am in order to leave the house by 7:30am and make our 9am flight. As I packed and got ready the day before, I had the girls pack up their books, coloring books, crayons, toys and stuffed animals into their backpacks. They made a half-hearted attempt and announced that they would do it in the morning before we left. I had to explain to them that we would be leaving at 7:30am and no later. They are so used to CK flying us and having a pretty open departure time that it's crazy to them to think we "have to" leave at a certain time. I did talk them into getting all ready before going to bed so they could just wake up, get dressed and go.

We dropped Buddy off at Claire's house and hated to say goodbye to him. We ran into Claire the week before and she asked who was keeping Buddy while we were in California and then asked if they could keep him which worked out perfectly! Buddy loves her little dogs, Paris and Shorty and they love him, so it's perfect. We were a little worried that Buddy might try to get out and "find us" as he often does when staying with Marco and Stacy, so we asked that he keep his collar on. We said goodbye and headed to the airport. We sailed through security and were on the airplane and headed to California before we knew it. Olivia was asleep with her head on my lap as we took off. She slept for an hour or more while Sofia played with my phone and played Temple Run. Just as Olivia woke up, I started drifting off and the girls took turns playing Temple Run while I get a little rest, which made the trip fly by.

We landed at 10:30am California time and decided to go straight to the beach, since it's so close to John Wayne Airport. We made our way to Laguna and stopped at The Cliffs for an early lunch. We had a beautiful table overlooking the ocean and the girls couldn't wait to put on their swimsuits and jump into the Pacific. Sofia kept asking when we could get going so she could get in the water. Brunch was delicious and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. After lunch, we walked down the hill to buy towels and beach toys. Olivia picked out a cute little backpack full of beach toys and we picked up a "Laguna Beach" towel but ended up with just one towel since they were $25 each! Sofia also found a cheap boogie board that she planned to use.

We drove up the coast a short ways to Crystal Cove State Park, where we parked and the girls changed into their swimsuits in the car. CK and I walked to the public bathrooms where we changed and then headed to the beach. We ended up buying another boogie board, since Sofia's broke just as we parked! Luckily there was a little snack shop with the bathrooms. We figured Sofia would spend the afternoon swimming and running in the surf, while Olivia played in the sand and might get her feet wet. She's been apprehensive of the ocean in the past and the waves at Laguna Beach crash right on the beach and the wash was pretty turbulent and strong. We found a spot for CK and I to sit with the boogie boards, sand toys and towels while both girls ran right into the water! Olivia kept up with Sofia and they had a ball running in and out of the crashing surf. It was too rough to get out to the actual waves but they loved getting tumbled by the strong wash. They both soon learned of the downside to swimming at the beach - sand in the swimsuit! She kept complaining how it felt and wanted to take her swimsuit off and clear out the sand, so CK used the towel to cover her while I took her suit off and washed it out in the ocean. It was hard to get it back on her, but she was soon back out with her sister in the water.

Meanwhile, Sofia had befriended a group of local girls who were probably in their early teens. As we watched them interact, it became clear that the girls weren't as interested in interacting with her as she was with them, but they were friendly enough and as we headed out, she told us how nice they were and how much fun she had with them. She also boogie boarded a little bit when she wasn't busy in the water. After a while, Olivia decided to use the new sand toys and played for awhile by herself until her sister joined her. They worked together building a big "mountain" of sand, but it was wiped out by a wave. At 3pm, we decided to gather our things and head to our hotel in Fullerton in hopes of beating traffic. Of course, it's Southern California so there is rarely a time when traffic isn't an issue. According to GPS, we were 20 miles from our hotel in Fullerton, yet it would take us an hour to get there! The girls changed in the car and really wanted to take a shower before getting into regular clothes, but with the drought in California the outdoor showers are turned off. We got as much sand off as possible and they were settled into the backseat with their books and scratch pad notebooks. Olivia was asleep in no time, which wasn't really a big surprise, while Sofia was busy working on her scratch pad.

We finally made it to the Fullerton Hotel and got settled into our room and both girls were ready to swim in the hotel's pool! I don't know where they get so much energy! With our room on the 2nd floor, the girls fought over who would be pushing the elevator buttons and soon agreed that Olivia would push the buttons on the way up while Sofia would push them on the way down. CK and the girls swam and enjoyed the pool, while I sat in a lounge chair and relaxed and read my book. It was perfect. Soon we were all hungry, so we decided to eat in the hotel's restaurant, which had great reviews on Yelp. The restaurant served rather interesting and fancy food, which is a little odd given the hotel that is obviously a hot spot for Asian tourists going to Disneyland. The food was delicious! The girls ordered macaroni and cheese (big surprise) and it was homemade and wonderful!

After dinner we returned to our room and rented The Peanuts Movie, which the girls and I saw when it was in the theater but CK hasn't seen yet. We all piled into the bed to watch it, with both girls in between us. I actually fell asleep within the first few minutes and woke up in the morning. Olivia also fell asleep between us, while Sofia moved to a rollaway bed and spent the night sleeping there.

All ready to go!